1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to hunting arrows and, more particularly, is related to a bleeder arrow which includes a hollow shaft through which the blood of an animal hit by the arrow may pass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known that an animal will usually bleed to death when hit hard with a broadhead arrow in almost any fleshy area. However, many big game animals hit with a broadhead are unfortunately not hit with an arrow that is placed well enough to cause death instantly or within a time frame that would minimize the animal's suffering. That is to say, many big game animals hit hard with a broadhead arrow must unfortunately suffer inhumanely for a considerable length of time until death occurs. Clearly, the suffering of the animal would be minimized if the bleeding which results from a hard hit broadhead arrow could be maximized. These factors also come into play when tracking an animal which has been hit by a broadhead. Normally, with a slow bleeding animal, it is difficult to track and find the kill and put the animal out of its misery. It is therefore clear that it would be highly desirable to expedite the bleed-out process in such a fashion that the suffering of the animal could be minimized.
Occasionally, an animal hit hard by a broadhead arrow can manage to pull and remove the broadhead and arrow shaft from its body. This action sometimes facilitates bleed-out, and sometimes retards it, depending upon the manner in which the broadhead is pulled out. That is, for example, since the blades of a broadhead are usually razor sharp, they sever the animal's tissue very cleanly, and when the arrow is removed from the body of the animal the tissue naturally falls back into place thereby sealing off the exit passage to a certain degree thereby inhibiting bleed-out. Further, muscle and fat tissue tend to close up and seal off slow bleeding areas to a certain degree in a natural attempt to heal the wound. In the case of an animal hit hard with a broadhead, the actual healing never takes place, and the foregoing process therefore unduly prolongs bleed-out and suffering of the animal.
The several materials from which present day arrow shafts may be made each contribute certain advantages and disadvantages relative to the animal's suffering described above. For example, with a solid wooden shaft, depending on the depth and location of the hit, it may be possible for the animal to remove the wooden shaft from the wound to provide for freer bleeding through the wound and faster death to the animal. However, when protruding from a fleeing animal, the shaft will generally break off close to the animal's side upon encountering resistance of heavy brush or trees. The portion of the solid arrow shaft remaining in the animal restricts bleeding thereby prolonging death and suffering of the animal. Additionally, as the animal bites and breaks the wooden shaft off when attempting to remove the broadhead from its body, the shaft breaks and splinters easily many times. Where the animal is not hit hard enough to cause death, he must continue to live with the broadhead and remaining portion of the shaft in his body.
In contrast, an aluminum shaft arrow is very tough and not as fragile as the wooden shaft arrow. Thus, when an animal is not hit hard enough with an aluminum shaft arrow to cause death, he may likely completely remove the broadhead and shaft from his body and continue to live in a humane manner. One hit hard with a broadhead may also remove an aluminum shaft to expedite bleeding and thereby minimize suffering. However, because an aluminum shaft does not easily break, it remains protruding from a fleeing animal, which increases the pain and suffering as the animal runs through trees and brush. In those rare instances where the aluminum shaft does happen to break it does not break off cleanly, but rather tends to kink or bend. The characteristics of fiberglass arrow shafts are quite similar to aluminum arrow shafts.
With any type of arrow shaft, when the broadhead becomes wedged behind the bone or cartilage of the animal, it is impossible for the animal to remove the arrow. In such a case, the animal must carry the shaft protruding from its body for the duration of the bleed-out process, which thereby becomes prolonged due to the restrictive nature of the shaft in the wound.
Those familiar with the sport of archery hunting know the advantages and disadvantages of both the sharp-pointed broadhead and the chisel-pointed broadhead. The chisel-pointed broadhead will usually slide off bone when the bone is not hit squarely and find its way deeper into the flesh, but many times it will glance off the animal's hide if the animal is running or standing in an off-and-away position to the shot. On the other hand, the sharp-pointed broadhead will usually enter the hide easily, but the sharp point may catch and become stopped by bone in many cases.
A conventionally attached (brazed or glued) chisel-pointed broadhead must move the complete shaft (about 30 inches from the tip to the trailing end) the distance of the angle taken by the broadhead when it changes direction sliding off the bone, which can reduce the efficiency of the shot.
It would be advantageous if a broadhead design could be provided that captures the advantages while eliminating any disadvantages of both common prior art broadhead designs.
The prior art teaches the provision of hollow arrow shafts to provide a flow-through passage for blood. Pertinent U.S. Pat. Nos. in this general area of which we are aware include: 1,604,713; 2,554,012; 3,393,912; 3,617,060; and 3,897,062.
The Cohen patent (2,554,012) is exemplary in illustrating a hollow arrow shaft 10 which includes perforations 13 therealong for receiving the blood. An arrowhead 16 is provided with blades 15 which are designed to prevent easy removal of the arrow. The De Lonais patent (3,393,912) illustrates a hollow cylindrical arrow shaft 6 provided at its forward end with a pair of blood inlet ports 28 and 30 and at its rear end with a pair of discharge ports 40.
While we have found that the prior art structures exemplified by these patents overcome some of the deficiencies of the solid wood, aluminum and fiberglass arrow shafts noted above, we find that they are still severely deficient with respect to providing the most expeditious and therefore humane bleed-out for an animal hit by a broadhead. One of the disadvantages of the prior art designs is their failure to take into account the various impedances to fluid flow created by changing internal diameters, obstructions, and the like, within the hollow arrow shafts. Clearly, such obstructions minimize fluid flow velocity thereby increasing bleed-out time.
None of the prior art references take into account the design of the broadhead in facilitating and expediting bleed-out. In fact, the broadheads of both Cohen an De Lonais, for example, are designed to maintain the arrow shaft within the animal, even in the case of a light hit. Since an animal hit with a broadhead will pull ferociously in an attempt to remove the arrow and broadhead from his body, the animal will often succeed, even with a barbed type arrowhead, thereby defeating the purpose of the hollow shafts. Further, barbed broadheads are generally inhumane, especially in cases of light hits where death would not normally result. Additionally, since it is likely that the hollow arrow shafts of the Cohen and De Lonais devices are made with aluminum or fiberglass (since the spine and flex requirements would be difficult to meet with a wooden arrow having a hollow shaft), and with their barbed broadheads are intended to prevent removal thereof from the body, the same inhumane treatment of a fleeing animal with a protruding arrow shaft hitting and banging on trees and brush would result as described above with respect to solid shafts.
Archery hunting from tree stands causes the arrow to enter the animal downwardly, so that the trailing end of the arrow is usually slightly upwardly from the animal's body. For the hollow arrow shaft of De Lonais, for example, the blood would have to travel against gravity for the full length of the shaft before exiting the outlet ports. It would naturally provide for a more expeditious bleed-out if such were not the case.
One of the main disadvantages of the prior art hollow arrow shaft designs, as exemplified by the Cohen and the De Lonais patents, is that, in spite of their hollow shafts, the bleed-out time is relatively slow compared to what it could be if the various factors and elements comprising such arrow shafts could be designed with maximum bleed-out in mind.
Of the remaining patents cited above, the Iezzi patent (3,617,060) discloses a hollow hunting arrow which is designed to induce lung collapse, while the Norlund patent (1,604,713) illustrates an arrow head 9 which is designed to prevent the arrowhead from being easily removed. Finally, the Christensen patent (3,897,062) teaches an arrowhead which is particularly designed to cause heavy bleeding.